Talking Out The Fire.

 

Remember this: When on the water, even in the shade, you can burn. Cover up.

Disclaimer: Talking the fire out of a wound is not a sound exchange for seeking appropriate medical attention. Nor is visiting a Voodoo, hoodoo, or root worker, unless it is part of your religion. Take this as a public service.

It is that time of year when we are approaching the middle of summer and everyone is out on the water. Outdoor participants are jet-skiing, fishing, paddle boarding, laying out to get a pecan tan, or sweating in the shade.
 

Yesterday I was doing some exercise outdoors and stopped in the shade, just to relieve myself of the sun beating down on me. I hydrated before going, which helped. I was still sweating bullets in the shade through.
 

I wanted to remind people, especially with fair skin and poor decision-making, to not take for granted the ability of the sun to burn you even when conditions are not obvious. There are also people that drink heavily and take prescription medications that are contradictory to going out into the sun. You are probably not going to feel the burn right off.  Drinking can causes lack of co-ordination and retarded decision-making which leads to accidents and death.

 

Here you have the above picture of a woman, who went fishing from a boat between the hottest hours of the day. She used sunscreen and they boated to a lake surrounded by overhanging canopy and filled with alligators. While there they fished and didn't catch a thing. They steered to the boat landing and she returned to her home. Whilst visiting her, I noticed her legs and inquired what happened.

She didn't notice the pain of her burns until the next morning. Her skin was already well past craw-daddy red. Over the period of a day, serum from her skin started to fill pockets on her epidermis. This is considered a first degree burn. I was concerned she would get an infection from the wounds opening. This is one of the first rounds of infection; broken skin. I asked her about medication and she was already taking one labeled: Do not go out in the sun. She was also prone to diabetes and had breast cancer. Diabetes would slow the wounds to healing. I directed her to make an appointment for a doctor's visit. She refused.

 

Later I found out from her, she had been taken by her fishing buddy to a root woman to have the fire talked out of the wound. I asked her what the root woman said. She didn't know but the root woman mumbled a lot. I asked her, did the root woman give her something to put on it. She said no. I told her, I would take photos of the wounds over the course of two weeks to see if something magical happened. I wanted to prove to her that it wouldn't work. The wound got worse over several days. I prompted her again to go to the doctor. She refused. I finally dug around in a medicine drawer for some Silvadene and gave it to her. Once she started using Silvadene the wound got better quickly.

 

After talking to her, she voiced the idea she thought the root woman was a fraud. The reason she believes this fire talking magic is because she got burnt once and had it done as a child by a man. It was gone the next day so this deepened her belief.

 

My grandmother was suppose to have the ability to learn this skill but she refused because it was not of God even though my understanding is it is a charm or scripture from the bible. You speak it over the person's wounds and it goes away. There are special hereditary or sexual conditions that exist around this belief that cause it to be limited in the number of people actually able to do the charm. A man has to pass it to a woman then the woman to a man. After three times the original fire practitioner can no longer talk fire out of the burn. Each practitioner can heal people in the hundreds.

 

This particular ability is not gifted to the person, but the person serves as a conduit for the Word of God to perform the miracle. Undoubtedly this root woman's magic was either gone, she didn't know what she was doing, or a fraud. I asked her was it worth it. She said, “No.”

 

Root woman aside, when this party went fishing, they should have used common sense when going on the water in the middle of the day. The rule of thumb is not to go out in the sun between 10 am and 3:30 pm to avoid overexposure to the sun's rays. Use sunblock or cover up. Because they couldn't see the sun hitting and reflecting from the water's surface, being engrossed in catching a big one and not feeling the sting of a sun burn; this lady got burned.

 

I am writing this as a public service to remind my little fishy friends (or anyone) to take precautions against overexposure to the sun's rays. Use sunblock 50 or cover up. Wear protective eye gear, because the light is reflecting right into your eyes. Hydrate yourself before, during, and after your fishing trip. Fish during a sensible time of day. If its the middle of the day, find something else to do that is shade-friendly. If you do get burned, take appropriate care of the wound or seek medical attention. Get the appropriate medication for you because another person's medication may cause an allergic reaction or be out-of date and less effective. Don't rely on faith healers because you might prolong getting attention for your burns. You could exacerbate a condition that requires hospitalization. You do not want a gangrene infect or having a limb removed. Things do get worse when you act or make foolish decisions. Stay safe and fish smart.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

Websites for Alcholism and Hot Weather:
http://www.hazelden.org/web/public/ade70528.page